It must be tough to be a public figure in any line of work, with the media constantly waiting to pounce on every word you speak. Such is the case with Dell CEO Michael Dell, who once famously suggested that Apple had no hope of recovery and should simply close its doors and return money to the shareholders. Read on to find out why that statement is so ironic nearly 16 years later…
Bloomberg: Dell in Talks to Go Private
During Apple’s darkest days in 1997, Dell founder Michael Dell was asked what he would do with the troubled company. His response was something along the lines of “I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,” which may come back to haunt him in 2013. According to Bloomberg, the Dell CEO is in buyout talks with private equity firms after losing nearly a third of its stock value last year. TPG Capital and Silver Lake are two of the companies mentioned by sources, with a deal that could be announced as early as this week. As of last Friday, Dell had a market value of $18.9 billion so it’s hardly on death’s door, but the closing stock price of $12.29 per share on Monday is even less than Apple’s dire $17 per share back in 1997.
Pulse Gets More Social with YouTube, Tumbler, Instagram
The Pulse app continues to grow and evolve, and this week the developers have infused the free, universal app with even more social networking superpowers. With an update released on Mondayfor iOS and Android, Pulse now adds social feeds from YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, Flickr and Facebook, keeping all of your connections in one place and, more importantly, one clean interface. Photo and video viewing has also been given a facelift with the latest update, so be sure to download the latest version, then tap the blue Add Content button to get started.
Ouch! CBS May Have Forced CNET to Recast CES Best of Show Vote
The Verge followed up on its story about CBS denying Dish Network a CES “Best of Show” award for its Hopper DVR due to ongoing litigation, and the drama shows no sign of abating. The new report confirms that CBS executives forced CNET to recast the vote after the Dish Hopper with Sling DVR won the contest, a move that has made many question the editorial independence of CNET. Reporter Greg Sandoval announced via Twitter on Monday that he had resigned, citing a lack of confidence in his CBS corporate masters. CBS released a statement of their own in response to The Verge story, calling the controversy “an isolated and unique incident” but doing little to appease their critics.
PayPal Bulks Up with 18,000 U.S. Retailers
PayPal announced Monday that the service is now accepted at 18,000 retail locations across the United States, available at 23 national brand name retailers including Dollar General, RadioShack, Barnes & Noble, Jamba Juice and Office Depot, among others. And that’s not all: The company is already hard at work expanding to everyday shopping experiences such as grocery stores and gas pumps, teasing two additional partners that the company plans to share publicly soon. PayPal users are encouraged to sign up for PayPal Anywhere on the company’s website.
RIM: 15,000 BlackBerry 10 Apps Submitted in 2 Days
BGR is reporting that BlackBerry 10 maker Research in Motion appears confident it will be able to deliver enough apps to satisfy smartphone users when its latest handsets debut at the end of January. The company’s VP of developer relations confirmed Monday that more than 15,000 BlackBerry 10-specific apps have been submitted to RIM’s BlackBerry App World in only two days, part of a virtual event the company called “Port-A-Thon,” which encourages developers to bring their apps to the fledging platform and is even willing to toss $100 for each submitted app which is approved for sale on the store. While those are impressive numbers, it remains to be seen if any of the titles are enough to go toe-to-toe with App Store or Google Play apps.
